How to Access VMs in Proxmox

This article explains how to access your VMs in Proxmox.

 

1. Connecting to NKU's Network

The College of Informatic's Proxmox cluster is only accessible if you are connected to the NKU network.

To connect to it, use one of three ways (all three require your NKU credentials): 

• If you are on campus and bring your own laptop, connect to the Wi-Fi via Norse_Net. 

• If you are not on campus, connect to NKU’s VPN. 
  • If needed, please see this knowledge base article for more details. 

• Alternatively, you can sign into view.nku.edu and connect to COI_Labs.
  • NOTE: This option should only be used as a last resort if on-campus Wi-Fi and the VPN are not viable options.
    • For example, you should use it if the VPN is down or you are on campus and do not have a laptop in your possession.
  • Too many students connecting to COI_Labs for Proxmox connections will overwhelm this VM pool and render it unusable to other students who need it.

 

2. Accessing Proxmox

Next, use one of the URLs for the Proxmox nodes to access the login page:

• https://coivmhost1.hh.nku.edu:8006/
• https://coivmhost2.hh.nku.edu:8006/
• https://coivmhost3.hh.nku.edu:8006/ 
• https://coivmhost4.hh.nku.edu:8006/ 
• https://coivmhost5.hh.nku.edu:8006/
  • NOTE: The coivmhost5 node may be down at times for testing purposes. It is recommended to use the other four for signing in.

 

3. Signing into Proxmox

Next, use your NKU username and password to log into Promxox.

• Make sure the Realm field is set to NKU account login.

NOTE: You must type out your username in lowercase characters, as shown below:

 

4. Accessing Your VMs

After logging in, you will have two methods available to you to access VMs: the search bar and VM pools.

 

4a. Search Bar Method:

The search bar method involves the following steps:

1. Select the search bar to the right of the Proxmox logo.
2. Type in your username to see your VMs for all the classes you are in.
   • Alternatively, type in a course code (e.g., cit436) to see all the VMs you have in that course.
     • For faculty members, doing this will show your and your students' VMs for the course.

Below is an example of using the search bar to look up all CIT 436 VMs as a faculty member:

 

4b. Pool Method

Select Server View above Datacenter (COIVMHOST) and change it to Pool View.

Doing this, you can see the classes you are in (the pools are sorted by class section).

Clicking on one of the pools lists the VMs that you have for that class.

Alternatively, you can drop down one of the pools on the left to see the VMs this way.

 

5. Sorting VMs in Pool by Name:

By default, when you access your VMs, they are sorted in the numerical order of their IDs. To sort them by name, click on the gear icon to the right of the View selection (shown as Pool View below), then set the Sort Key option to Name and press OK.